New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced an agreement Monday with the owner of a pet store chain in the Hudson Valley. The agreement includes banning the owner from selling pets and imposing fines and penalties for what the attorney general’s investigation found was repeated animal cruelty.
Schneiderman says the agreement permanently bars Richard Doyle from working as a pet dealer. The agreement also requires Doyle to pay $15,000 in restitution and $5,000 in penalties and costs to the state. Doyle owned and operated three retail pet stores in the Hudson Valley: American Breeders, Inc. in Wappingers Falls, in Dutchess County; and two stores in Westchester —Puppies and Kittens in Mohegan Lake and Best Breeds, Inc. in Larchmont. Schneiderman’s office launched an investigation into Doyle’s businesses in 2015 after receiving numerous complaints from consumers who purchased pets from Doyle’s stores and then found that the animals were sick. The investigation also uncovered a number of practices carried out by Doyle and his staff to make sick animals appear healthy.
